Cambridge China COVID-19 Collaboration (4C) PPE Appeal

Thanks to the many generous donations we have received through the Just Giving Page and other routes, we have now raised £85,000.

This is enough to pay for:

17,000 high grade FFP3 masks or

80,000 fluid resistant surgical masks or

7,000 surgical gowns or protective HAZMAT suits

Dear Friends, Colleagues and Supporters of NHS staff,

We are seeking donations to the Cambridge China COVID-19 Collaboration (4C) PPE Appeal.

This appeal is led by two doctors and University of Cambridge Professors, Toni Vidal Puig and Sadaf Farooqi, who normally study obesity and metabolic diseases at the Institute of Metabolic Science. They are collborating with Angela Single who has worked with, and in, the NHS her whole career - from nurse through to non-executive director. The final member is Professor Daping Chu, the Professor of Engineering and Academic Director at the Cambridge University - Nanjing Centre for Technology and Innovation.

They as the founders of 4C PPE Appeal all want to ensure that high-grade Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is available for health and social care professionals caring for patients with COVID-19 in Cambridge and the East of England.

This is an urgent problem. In the UK, the number of cases will remain high over the next 3-4 months.

In the UK, the NHS is committed to providing adequate PPE for its staff. However, doctors and nurses on the frontline have repeatedly raised concerns about the availability of PPE right across the country. Several factors have been discussed in the public domain, including difficulties with distribution and unprecedented demand outstripping supply.

Our aim is to contribute to solutions to this problem. We want to make sure that there is plenty of PPE for health and social care professionals in the UK.

We are raising funds to transport PPE from China to the UK, where we will distribute it to hospitals in Cambridge and the East of England. The 4C PPE Appeal is an official part of the University of Cambridge COVID-19 appeal.

We are also working to develop and design innovative types of PPE such as new respirator masks in the UK with materials scientists, engineers and technology companies.

These are challenging times globally. There is tremendous competition for high-grade masks in particular, with demand far outstripping supply. Liquidity is needed to pay suppliers upfront to secure the supplies we need.

We are urgently seeking your support - our first target is £500,000.

What will we do with your money?

£150 buys enough FFP3 respirator masks to care for 1 patient in Intensive Care for 1 day.

£1,000 buys 100 pairs of scrubs for staff to wear when working with patients with COVID-19.

We will also purchase surgical gowns, eye protection and visors.

On behalf of our colleagues, we thank you for your support and generosity.